MultiMedia Intelligence Brief - October 10, 2007â€”After many months of speculation, we have finally gotten some whispers of Googleâ€™s plan for taming the next great Internet conduit, the mobile phoneâ€¦

The approach seems as appropriate for Google as the iPhone is to Apple. Apple is, at its very core, a company that provides elegant hardware solutions enhanced with innovative software. As you may recall, efforts to provide the Apple OS to third parties, enabling "clone Macs" were scuttled when Jobs took the helm again. Google, however, is a software company that has dominated the Internet. Google is among the premier advertising aggregators. Providing a software OS or handset client to enable optimal Internet based applications and digital advertising is in their core competency.

At this point, it is important to note that the analysis presented here is based on "whispers." It has not been confirmed by any official Google announcement. Normally, MultiMedia Intelligence does not base its analysis on rumors; however, there are a handful of companies that have game changing capabilities. Google is certainly on of those.

The purported Google strategy seems to lead to the advent of an open-source competitor to Windows Mobile. This is a development that will make the environment for Windows Mobile much more challenging. Although Microsoft has agreements with almost 50 handset vendors, it's software still will only power 10 to 15 million phones that will be shipped this year.

Rick Sizemore

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